There should be no political interference: Karuna

Chennai: With the Opposition gunning for Home Minister P Chidambaram in connection with the controversial finance ministry note on 2G spectrum allocation, DMK president M Karunanidhi on Monday said there should be no political interference in the case.

Responding to reporters' queries here on the Opposition demand for Chidambaram's resignation, the 88-year-old DMK patriarch said, "It is their opinion. My opinion is there should be no political interference in this case."

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself had reposed his faith in Chidambaram.

In an apparent reference to the statement by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on zero losses, he said, "Initially, the loss estimates (due to spectrum pricing) were put at Rs 1.76 lakh crore (by CAG). Then they (CBI) said it was Rs 30,000 crore. Then they officially declared there was no (zero) loss."

Asked if Chidambaram was connected in "some way" in the scam which has come to haunt the Congress-led UPA II government at the Centre, he said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself had reposed his faith in the home minister.

On Chidambaram being the third minister from the state after A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran to have faced controversy on 2G spectrum allocation, Karunanidhi said he did not accept levelling charges against someone "to oust him from his post".

"Who are we to ask a minister from Tamil Nadu to step down?"

He also took a dig at the media when he said that it should "not deliver verdict" as the courts were looking into the matter.